Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
4-27-2026
First Advisor
Sandy King
Second Advisor
Leigh Swartzendruber
Abstract
Front office staff in outpatient psychiatric settings are often the first point of contact for patients experiencing anxiety and emotional distress. However, existing evidence indicates that non-clinical, front office staff often lack formal training in trauma-informed care (TIC). This gap may limit early recognition and response to patient distress. This quality improvement project addressed this gap by evaluating the impact of a trauma-informed educational intervention of staff confidence and documentation of patient distress. The project was guided by Pender’s Health Promotion Model and Lewin’s Change Theory. It used a pre-and post-intervention quantitative design with sample of five front office staff members. The educational intervention included structured TIC educational training that focused on recognizing anxiety, responding to emotional distress, and appropriate escalation. Data was collected through the Confidence Scale (C-Scale), which is a Likert-type instrument and by reviewing the front desk distress log documentation practices. Nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to analyze the changes in confidence and knowledge scores. While a z-test of rates was also used to evaluate changes in documentation frequency. The results indicated no statistically significant change in confidence scores, Z = -1.83, p = .07. However, staff’s knowledge scores significantly improved, Z = -2.02, p = .04. Finally, documentation of patient distress increased significantly from 0.00 to 0.14 incidents per day, p = 0.05. These outcomes support existing literature that demonstrates the effectiveness of targeted trauma-informed educational intervention to improve staff awareness and observable practice behaviors, which contributes to improving patient-centered care in outpatient psychiatric settings.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Oduwole, Ediomi Enebong, "Promoting Trauma-Informed Practices Through Staff Education" (2026). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 353.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/353
